Method for Management of Voice-Over IP Communications

1. A method of voice over IP call admission in a network, comprising: (a) receiving a first parameter indicative of a level of link utilization in said network; (b) comparing said first parameter to at least one threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity; (c) comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network when the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters; and (d) determining an allowable call value in response to said parameter comparisons.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a value of the first parameter is based on information received from polling one or more locations in the network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is an enhanced PSTN network.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the enhanced PSTN network further comprises at least two IP gateways interfacing with respective PSTN endpoints and an intermediate IP network.

5. The method of claim 1 where the network is an end-to-end IP network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of comparing said first parameter to at least one threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity further comprises comparing the first parameter to the first threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity and a second threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity.

7. The method of the claim 6 where the first threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity is a low threshold and the second threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity is a high threshold.

8. The method of the claim 7 wherein the low threshold parameter has a value of approximately 88% of the capacity of the link utilization.

9. The method of the claim 7 wherein the high threshold parameter has a value of approximately 96% of the capacity of the link utilization.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network if the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters further comprises determining if the first parameter is less than a value of a parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein if the first parameter is not less than a value of a parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization, then the allowable call value remains at its current value.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network if the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters further comprises determining if the first parameter is greater than a value of a parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization or greater than or equal to 100% of link utilization.

15. The method of claim 13 above wherein if the first parameter is not greater than a value of a parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization or not greater than or equal to 100% of link utilization, ten the allowable call value remains at its current value.

16. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation of admitting of voice over IP calls in a network the operation comprising: (a) receiving a first parameter indicative of a level of link utilization in said network; (b) comparing said first parameter to at least one threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity; (c) comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network when the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters; and (d) determining an allowable call value in response to said parameter comparisons.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 wherein the step of comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network if the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters further comprises determining if the first parameter is less than a value of a parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization.

18. An apparatus for facilitating voice over IP call admission in a network, comprising: means for receiving a first parameter indicative of a level of link utilization in said network; means for comparing said first parameter to at least one threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity; means for comparing said first parameter to a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network when the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters; and means for determining an allowable call value in response to said parameter comparisons.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the means for receiving further comprises a Call Admission Manager Module (CAM) in communication with at least one link in the network.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein the CAM receives information by polling said at least one link in the network.

21. An apparatus for facilitating voice over IP call admission in a network, comprising: means for receiving call admission policy information based upon a first parameter indicative of a level of link utilization in said network relative to at least one threshold parameter indicative of link utilization capacity and a second parameter indicative of a previous level of link utilization in the network when the first parameter exceeds a first of the at least one threshold parameters; and means for generating an allowable call value as a function of said first parameter being compared to said at least one threshold parameter and said second parameter to arrive at the call admission policy information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the means for receiving call admission policy information further comprises a Call Admission Control Module (CAC) in communication with a switching device in the network.